Known as ‘trade language’, it is an internationally recognised, semi-technical minimal language used by people who have no common language. Referred to as ‘jargon’, this type of language is common in specialised fields like trading, or computers.  It is used to avoid the type of confusion caused by giving the same item many names.

Trade jargon does not stabilise, nor does it expand, and you probably wont find it in any dictionary either.

Examples

‘Going long’ tells everyone that you are either buying or holding stock whereas ‘going short’ would indicate that you are selling stock short.  Selling stock short describes borrowing stock that you don’t own and then selling it the intention of buying it at a later date for less than sold it for.

‘Blue chip’ stock indicates valuable stock which has proven itself and has the potential to make a lot of money.

‘GTC’ indicates that stock is ‘good till cancelled’ while ‘bottom fishing’ indicates stocks that have declined in value.  A ‘day order’ says buy or sell at a certain price.  If not bought or sold on the day it is placed, this amount expires.

‘MKT’ signifies urgency and stands for ‘at the market’.  It says buy now no matter how much you have to pay or how little profit you make.

‘Uptick’ and ‘downtick’.   ‘Uptick’ the next trade will be at a higher price than previous trades, while ‘downtick’ means the opposite.

‘DNR’, ‘do not reduce’ is usually assumed unless otherwise specified.

‘Overbought’ or ‘oversold’ refers to a market where people have been wildly buying or selling and shares that are considers ‘over valued’, ‘under valued’ or ‘fairly valued’ describe stock just that.